commercial fishing

Introduction
History of commercial fishing
Fishery equipment and facilities
- Gear
  - Hand tools
  - Lines
  - Traps
  - Nets
    - Bag nets
    - Dragged nets
    - Seines
    - Drive-in and lift nets
    - Gill and entangling nets
  - Machines
- Vessels
  - Trawlers
    - Side trawlers
    - Stern trawlers
    - Beam or outrigger trawlers
    - Wet-fish trawlers
    - Freezer trawlers
    - Factory or processing trawlers
  - Seiners
    - Purse seiners
    - Seine-netters
  - Dredgers
  - Lift-netters
  - Gill-netters
  - Potters
  - Liners
    - Handliners
    - Longliners
    - Pole-and-line vessels
    - Trollers
  - Multipurpose fishing boats
  - Artisanal fishing boats
  - Mother ships
  - Support and ancillary vessels
  - Freshwater fishing boats
- Harbours and port markets
Types of fishery
- Salt water
  - The oceans
  - Objects of sea fishery
    - Fishes
    - Shellfish
    - Mammals
    - Seaweeds and plankton
  - Fish finding
  - Sea-fishing methods
    - Pole-and-line fishing
    - Drifting longlines
    - Bottom longlines
    - Traps
    - Dragged gear
    - Seine nets
    - Purse seines and lamparas
    - Lift nets
    - Gill nets and drift nets
    - Entangling nets
    - Harvesting machines
- Fresh water
  - General characteristics
  - Methods

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

A worker in dark clothing inspects large frozen tuna lined up on the floor at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan, using a tool to check the fish.

sturgeon fishing

Fishermen in yellow rain gear working on a boat to haul in anchovies as seagulls fly around them.

lobster fishing, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

A bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus) with its mouth open is hooked on a fishing longline, partially out of the water next to a boat in the ocean.

Overfishing: A threat to the oceans and marine life

Illustration of a haddock fish, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, showing its elongated body, dark upper coloring, lighter underside, and prominent fins.

Illustration of a halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a large flatfish with both eyes on one side of its brown, oval-shaped body and a broad tail fin.

Illustration of a jack mackerel fish, Trachurus symmetricus, showing its elongated body, pointed head, large eye, and two dorsal fins with a dark upper body and silvery underside.

Illustration of an Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), showing a streamlined fish with a pointed snout, silver body, and dark horizontal stripes along its back.

At a Glance

sturgeon fishing

fishing industry summary

Related Questions

commercial fishing

Also known as: fishing industry

Written by

Georg A. BorgstromAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Food-gathering peoples first obtained fish and shellfish from the shallow water of lakes and along the seashore, from small ponds remaining in inundation areas, from tidal areas, and from small streams. Some authorities believe that in the earliest times fish were rarely caught because of the inadequacy of fishing gear. Shellfish, however, can be gathered easily by hand, and the prehistoric kitchen middens indicate their importance as a food source. In earliest times most foodstuffs...

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